The Opportunity…
Is All About the Numbers!

The Federal government is the nation’s largest employer and it offers its employees unique benefits. Those employees deserve to work with caring financial advisors who can coordinate their benefits and manage their financial goals. Few advisors have access to the tools and support to properly assist Federal employees, but we can help.

Why Work with Federal Employees?

Financial advisors and their firms interested in expanding into a rewarding niche market should know that the Federal government employs almost 2.7 million full-time, permanent civilian workers. In addition to all workers having access to the same employee benefits programs, the Office of Personnel Management’s 2014 Common Characteristics of the Federal Government report says that:

85% of all Federal employees work outside of the Washington, D.C., area. The 10 states with the highest number of Federal employees are California, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, and Ohio.
Federal employees are paid competitively and have many types of jobs, including attorneys, physicians and law enforcement officers.
The Federal workforce is highly educated. More than 62% of Federal workers have associate’s, bachelor’s or post-graduate degrees, compared to 54% in the private sector.
The Federal workforce is diverse. Men comprise 56.5% of all Federal employees. Minorities constitute 33.4% of the workforce, with the largest members of this group being African-American (17.9%) and Hispanic (7.2%).
The Federal workforce is aging. Nearly 39% of Federal workers are 50 years of age or older (contrasted to about 24% in the private sector). The average Federal employee is 47 years old with 16.3 years of service, according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which projects that one out of every three Federal employees will be ready to retire by 2018.

How Can You Help Federal Employees?

Although Federal employees have a unique benefits package, they need assistance similar to that of employees in the private sector. Financial advisors can assist by:

Maximizing pension income during retirement by choosing appropriate payout strategies for employees and suitable benefits options for their survivors.
Providing information on suitable distribution options from employees’ Thrift Savings
Plan (TSP) and Voluntary Contribution Plan (VCP).
Analyzing employees’ needs for life insurance coverage, both during employment and at retirement.
Explaining the importance of disability coverage to potentially reduce risks for the employees and their families.

How Can You Connect with Federal Employees?

We offer programs that can assist you with adding Federal employees as clients to your business. We can help you to:

Understand Federal workforce employee benefit programs (CSRS, FERS, TSP, FEGLI, FEHB and more) so you will be better equipped to counsel Federal employees with their retirement, investment and risk protection needs. Our FedEd Advisor Training Program can prepare you to work more effectively with Federal employees.
Provide employee benefits education programs that lessen the burden on Federal agencies to train their employees on benefits. These programs can provide great value to the attendees, and offer an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and ability to help this group. Our FEBA Seminars Employee Benefits Seminars are designed to provide a complete package of slides, workbooks and materials to assist a Federal agency in conducting a program from start to finish.
Keep updated on changes to Federal employee benefits by providing Advisor Updates as new laws and regulations are enacted. We can also assist with complex cases, and even provide professional speakers to present briefings.

FAQ’s

When and where is the next FedEd Advisor Training?

Programs are offered throughout the year and all around the United States. We often work with brokers/dealers, insurance companies, FMOs, IMOs and other organizations to customize programs for their advisors. Please contact us to determine the availability and dates for the next program. Or call us to develop a program for your team.

FEBA Seminars Employee Benefits Seminars

Will the FEBA program materials need to be approved by my company?

In most instances, your compliance department will want to review the materials prior to providing approval to use them. Some companies also require review by a legal department, marketing department or seminar group. We will work closely with your compliance department to assist you in clearing our materials for your use. Simply provide us with the contact to work with, and we’ll relieve you of the time and effort necessary to obtain the approvals.

Which companies have approved your FEBA Seminar materials?

The following list includes brokers/dealers and insurance companies that have approved our materials for use by their representatives. If your company is not listed, please contact us to check the approval status.

American National Insurance Co.
Government Personnel Mutual Life
Horner, Townsend, & Kent (Penn Mutual)
Lincoln
Mass Mutual
Next Financial
Parkland Securities
Questar Capital
Raymond James
Sanders Morris Harris
Securities America
Summit Brokerage Group (Now part of Cetera Advisor Network)

How do I order FEBA Seminar workbooks? Is there a minimum order?

Our FEBA Seminars ‘Understanding Your Federal Benefits’ workbooks (both full-day and half-day) can be ordered by contacting us by phone or email. You must have a valid FEBA license to order materials. We require a minimum order of 10 workbooks. Advisors pay for the cost of the books and shipping. To minimize shipping charges, and to provide adequate time for printing and shipping, we recommend ordering books at least two weeks prior to your program. Even better, order an inventory of books to keep on hand. Some advisors even use our workbooks to guide their personal discussions with individual Federal employees.

Do you have customized FEBA Seminars marketing materials that I can use to develop business?

Yes. We can customize a single-page promotional flyer that can be used to market your seminar program to Federal agencies. The customization can include your name, firm, address, email, and phone. In addition, it should be reviewed and approved by your compliance, legal, marketing and seminar groups prior to use, and will include any compliance-approved language required by your company.

This promotional flyer can be produced on glossy paper for folding into a standard business envelope with your card, or can be printed on card stock that can be inserted into a large envelope. Here is a Sample Benefits Promotional Flyer. A supply of these promotional pieces can be customized; contact us for more details.

We also offer a magazine-style introduction brochure on glossy paper that can provide a more thorough introduction and explanation of the services you can provide. This piece can be used to walk through the advantages of FEBA Seminars during a face-to-face meeting with a Federal agency contact. Because the magazine-style piece is more expensive to produce, we don’t recommend mailing it in an unsolicited manner. Contact us for a quote for a supply of these introduction brochures.

The introduction brochure can also be purchased as a heavy-duty, glossy, coil-bound brochure printed on laminated card stock. This provides a useful track book that you can use to introduce the FEBA Seminars program during a face-to-face meeting.

Which Federal agencies have you worked with?

We’ve worked with advisors to conduct employee benefits briefings for employees at many different Federal agencies, and the list is growing. To see the most updated list of agencies that we’ve worked with, take a look at our latest Client List.

Return to the FedEd Academy page.